Toggl is the first new “app” I’ve added to my daily workflow in a long time, and I want to give it a little plug.
My workplace requires me to log my time so that they know how much money they’re spending on various projects. I found a great way to do that with Toggl. I leave it open in Safari (unfortunately it does seem to cause Firefox to crash every couple days) on my external monitor. It looks like this:
Each line is a task I’ve spent time on, and each one of these tasks is connected to a project. Once I’ve put in a task and a project, it’s super easy to click “Continue” next to a previous iteration or to simply start typing it in and let it pop up as a suggestion. I can even add a little note specifying just what I was doing in the “Bible Integration” category. And I can easily change entries or add entries manually if I need to.
As those entries stack up, I get a nice pie chart showing me how I’ve spent my time this week. Here’s last week:
I also get to see how much time I’ve been spending on any given task—while I’m working on it. That’s huge, because let’s face it: the Internet can easily waste more time than it saves. It’s too easy to look up and see “Ancillary Tasks — 41:37.” Ouch. I have the awesome privilege of writing a brand new textbook. Why would I spend four minutes and thirteen seconds (and counting) on a blog post?!
I apologize to you both; you’re worth my time.